LISTEN: Luke Combs Debuts Moving Unreleased Song, ‘Ain't No Cowboy’, in New Zealand
By Maxim Mower
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During the opening night of his 2025 New Zealand double-header, Luke Combs treated the packed-out Eden Park crowd to the live debut of a brand new unreleased song.
The North Carolina hitmaker surprised his adoring audience by performing a stunning, stripped-back rendition of ‘I Ain't No Cowboy’, which finds Luke Combs stepping into the shoes of a lover that's been left in the dust by a restless cowgirl.
It's a powerful, evocative ballad that sees Luke Combs once again capturing the storytelling magic he bottles up on previous fan-favourites, such as ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ and ‘When It Rains It Pours’. On his more recent material, such as 2024's pared-down concept album, Fathers & Sons, Combs has been exploring deeply personal themes, which makes for compelling songwriting. Nonetheless, it's also exciting to see him expanding his scope again as he readies his new project.
Enchanting stories are always at the heart of Luke Combs’ music, and even on the introspective Fathers & Sons, he still leaves room for conjuring up inventive, striking scenarios, epitomised by the utterly heart-rending album closer, ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’.
On ‘Ain't No Cowboy’, Combs croons, “Ain’t no cowboy, but I wish I was / We would’ve rode off together / In the setting sun / Instead of watching her / Ride right out of my mind / If I could have roped her heart back / I could have been what she needed when / She saddled up, and she kicked up a pile a dust / Ain’t no cowboy, but now I wish I was”.
It follows Luke Combs’ teaser of a new duet, ‘More Less Than Perfect’, which finds him endearingly shaking his head with bemused gratitude at how loving and forgiving his wife is. With Combs upping the ante regards to new music, it excitingly seems his next studio album is en route, and we'll be keeping our fingers crossed the ‘Beer Never Broke My Heart’ chart-topper is gearing up to release it later in 2025.
Elsewhere during his live-wire Eden Park set, Luke Combs serenaded the crowd with beloved staples such as ‘Lovin’ On You’, ‘Hurricane’, ’One Number Away’ and ’The Kind Of Love We Make’, as well as slipping in some rarer inclusions, such as ‘Honky Tonk Highway’, ‘Must've Never Met You’ and ‘Houston, We Got a Problem’. Throughout the rest of January and early February, Luke Combs has highly anticipated shows lined up in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
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